Schools pay price for keeping kids safe

Investigating hotline abuse allegations can be difficult, time-consuming and costly.

Jul. 9, 2011

News-Leader

Written by

News-Leader

The process

Parker McKenna, director of human resources for Springfield Public Schools, outlined the process when an allegation of child abuse or neglect names a staff member as the alleged perpetrator:» If a student makes an allegation of child abuse or neglect against a staff member, the principal or school official who receives the report makes a hotline call to the Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division. » Other times, the district is notified by the division's Out-of-Home Investigative Unit that a staff member was named in a hotline report. "In this situation, the district suspends the employee (alleged perpetrator) from duty until the initial phase of the investigation is complete and details of the situation have been gathered." The staff member is typically placed on paid administrative leave and required to leave school property.» The district's human resources and school police departments are part of the investigative process, working alongside the state investigator.» The district regroups to evaluate the situation and determines next steps. "Often, the employee is returned to their normal work assignment," McKenna said. » If the situation warrants counseling of the employee's performance, or other action, that may occur at this point in the process. » The results of the state's investigation are forwarded to the district after it is completed and processed.

A News-Leader review indicates a spike in hotline calls in the school district. The review also shows that making a hotline call on a school employee -- required by law anytime there's an allegation of abuse -- triggers a process that has brought complaints by teachers and can be time-consuming, difficult and costly:

» The accused employee is typically suspended with pay during the initial investigative phase, which averages two to three days. Plus, in some cases, a teaching substitute is also hired at $82.82 a day.

» At a minimum, each inquiry triggers work by a state investigator and representatives from the district's human resources and school police departments. The employee supervisor, a union representative, attorneys and others can also be involved.

» The district does not calculate total costs connected to unsubstantiated allegations or log, as public record, the types of claims that have been made or time spent investigating them. The president of one teacher group said a recent investigation took weeks.

» Commenting on the apparent spike in hotlined cases, Ray Smith, president of the Springfield National Education Association, said the district initially overreacted to a high-profile case several years ago in which a principal was criminally accused of not hotlining a teacher, and acquitted. Allegations of abuse at that elementary triggered public scrutiny about the district response and officials have since reviewed the process.

(Smith said the teachers believe the hotline calls have spiked. Hard numbers are not available for comparison. District officials didn't start keeping a log until April 2009 but anecdotally couldn't recall any substantiated reports in the past few years either.)

» SNEA has also advocated the district show more discretion when an accusation is "blatantly false." In one case, a female student was told the accused teacher wasn't even at school when the alleged incident occurred. The student then pointed the finger at a different staff member.

In another case, students were caught trying to "get their stories straight on Facebook."

Both teacher groups support taking a tough stance against child abuse and the hotline process, but SNEA has worked to improve the internal process when there are allegations against a staff member.

The district recently made two changes in response to "feedback" from teachers. The district now provides the accused with a copy of the allegations -- absent any names except the person accused -- and changed the location of investigative meetings.

"It's going to be a difficult and unpleasant situation for everybody involved," said Parker McKenna, the district's director of human resources. "The only thing we can do is try to ensure it protects kids to the greatest extent possible."

Hotline reports against school staff, according to Smith, have ranged from the use of vulgar language and fondling a child's bottom to smacking a student's helmet too hard during football practice.

Under the state-mandated reporter law, people in certain professions -- including teachers -- are required to make a hotline call any time there is reasonable suspicion of abuse or neglect.

Smith supports taking swift action to protect students but stresses there are misunderstandings and false reports.

"What can be improved is the way the call is handled," he said. "I want them to be able to talk to the adult, who just happens to be a mandated reporter as well. I don't think there's anything in the law that takes away their discretionary judgment."

The district makes time for "critical fact-finding" such as reviewing surveillance footage or checking attendance records.

"We're not trying to actually investigate to determine if it happened or not; we're just trying to determine whether or not the circumstances would have allowed the incident to occur," McKenna said.

"We're concerned about the safety of the child. We always err on the side of caution."

If a trained hotline worker flags the call for investigation, the employee is placed on administrative leave.

"That is for the protection of the employee who has been accused as well," McKenna said. "We've sort of immediately frozen the situation. The situation can't escalate, it can't get any worse and it can't snowball."

But the district now quickly provides the employee a copy of the hotline report. That's one of the recent changes.

"That's simply the allegations," McKenna said. "If there are any names, they are removed."

Accusations rare

It's extremely rare for a classroom teacher, in Springfield or elsewhere statewide, to be accused of child abuse or neglect.

It's even rarer for the outcome to result in any action.

Missouri hotline calls identified 104,643 alleged perpetrators in 2009, the most recent year available, and 873 of those were school personnel. Of the 873, 4.1 percent or 36 were substantiated.

In Springfield, any initial report of abuse is handled the same. But when a school employee stands accused, extra layers come into play.

The human resources and school police departments play a role in the investigation. Principals, supervisors and other administrators are typically in the loop.

"It takes a lot of time on the district's part and grief and heartache on the part of teachers," said Glenda Thurlkill, president of the Missouri State Teachers Association. "As uncomfortable as it may be, we want to be respectful of the teachers during the process."

McKenna said investigators typically sit down after a couple days to review any evidence. That's often when the district decides if the employee will return to work.

"We work alongside the state investigator, gathering the same information so what they hear we also hear," he said.

The district used to schedule investigation-related meetings at the school where the accused employee worked. Now, they're at the Kraft Administrative Center.

"The old practice is to bring them back to the school," Smith said. "It just adds to the intrigue and the humiliation."

Consistency urged

Any allegation of abuse by a teacher is serious business.

But Smith said even when the allegation is unfounded, it can take a toll on the educator as well as the entire school building.

Jill Patterson, chief legal counsel for the Greene County Sheriff, said entities should respond to allegations in a consistent way.

"Who might have done it has nothing to do with hotlining concerns or suspicions about children," said Patterson, who trains mandated reporters, including school employees. "I advocate that all agencies and institutions have exactly the same policy that they follow for an allegation against a colleague as they would against someone they don't know at all. They deserve the same level of investigation no matter who they're accusing and it protects the integrity of the agency and the institution."

But she concedes that it's tough when the person accused works down the hall.

"It's fair to say it's a more complicated situation both emotionally for the person making the call and also because there's probably going to be an internal policy as well," she said. "It has things that are different but it's basic function, it's basic purpose, are exactly the same."